The Skins We Hide In

1. Fight Face

Six am always came too early. If only it could have come around seven that could have been so much better; but there were chores too do before training and school. Lilah had pulled kitchen duty which meant spending an hour chopping and peeling vegetables. It also meant being first to breakfast if you did your chores fast enough.

"Mae wake up." Lilah stretched and kicked her sister before rolling out of bed and going to her dresser to grab a pair of pants and a bra. Turning back towards Mae, she stalked to the bed and shoved her sister in the shoulder. Mae leaned forward, slumped out of bed and crawled her way to the dresser.

"If you don't hurry up I'm gonna go without you. I'll eat all the cinnamon rolls and make sure you don't get any." Mae had animal care duty, which was on the way to the kitchen. Lilah always walked Mae to her morning chores, although as Mae was getting older she needed less and less supervision. Their mother was too busy running their small camp to make sure her daughters were productive members of a post-apocalyptic society. Not that Lilah minded; she knew keeping their haven up and running as well as safe from outsiders and skins. When life as they knew it had ended, their mother had ensured that Lilah and Mae would have a safe place to grow up. She started Camp Lazarus and the handful of other survivors who she had found decided to stay and help build Lazarus. Now, eleven years later the camp was thriving, and Lilah was approaching the ripe old age of eighteen and was months away from picking her specialty. Mae was barely thirteen and still seemed to believe the world wasn't out to get them. She believed the world could be saved; cured. Lilah knew better. She knew it could only be survived.

"Maeve if you aren't ready I'm leaving you behind. Nell is waiting for me and you know how she gets when she's left waiting."

"I'm coming! Belle is waiting for me to come milk her. Then I need to pet Jenny, and Martha..." Mae had named all the animals in their small barn on the ground and despite having several similar looking cows, chickens and sheep, Mae seemed to be able to distinguish them from one another. She wanted to be a veterinarian, a profession which seemed to fit Mae like a second skin. She had a long way to go before picking her specialty; Lilah on the other hand was close and still couldn't decide between the hunting crew or combat. She mused on this as she and her sister left their cabin and heading towards the barn. There weren't tradition ladders and stairs between the ground and the main floor; there were planks of wood nailed to the trees well hidden, meant only for those who lived there among Lazarus and pieces of rope painted to look like limbs and vines. Skins were only half the danger; at least they were mindless and just ambled along. Other people were the real danger, mainly because resources could be scarce and the unknown and unfamiliar made people afraid.

"I'll see you later Lala." Mae waved over her shoulder as she started to slither down the tree. Lala was a nickname given to her by their father, and after whatever caused people to turn into skins, her mother had continued to call her by that name as a reminder that dying doesn't mean you die in someone's memories. Her mom was strong like that Layla noticed; While other people tended to not talk about the people they had lost or whatever had caused what they thought was a virus (although no one was for sure and didn't want piss off God in case he was the one who caused people to die and reanimate). Her mom was always willing to talk about anything: the skins, death, their dad, sex, etc. People said Lilah was like her, and her mother said Mae reminded her of their dad. From what little Lilah remembered he had been a kind man, always willing to play with his children and was completely devoted to their mom.

"Lilah! You're late! I've been sitting here cutting carrots forever and my hands hurt. I'm suffering from abandonment issues and carrot hand." Nell was sitting by the big stainless-steel table, a pile of carrots in front of her, looking her usual gorgeous ebony self. Her springy curls were up in a bun, although a few were planning their escape and looked like they would be breaking free any second. Lilah felt plain next to her sometimes. She just loved how Nell had springy locks and her uninspiring blonde hair that couldn't hold a shape if the universe depended on it.